Obama signs law honoring civil rights marchers

SELMA, Ala. (AP) — Participants in three civil rights marchers a half century ago are being recognized with Congressional Gold Medals, the highest honor awarded by Congress.

President Barack Obama signed legislation awarding the medals into law Saturday as he flew to Selma, Alabama, for commemorations of the Black Sunday protest march of March 7, 1965.

On that day, many in a crowd of 600 were beaten bloody by state troopers as they tried to cross Selma's Edmund Pettis Bridge on their intended march to Montgomery, Alabama.

President Barack Obama signs legislation awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to the people who participated in the "Bloody Sunday" march, Turnaround Tuesday, or the final Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March in March of 1965, at his desk aboard Air Force One Saturday, March 7, 2015. The president was en route to Selma, Ala., to attend the 50th Anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," which refers to the day in 1965 when police attacked marchers demonstrating for voting rights. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Shocking scenes of the brutality helped to galvanize the nation against racial oppression in the South and hasten passage of the Voting Rights Act that year.

Two more demonstrations followed in Selma. In the last one, the demonstrators completed their march to Montgomery.

The sun sets over the Edmund Pettus Bridge where preparations for the 50th anniversary of the civil rights march with a visit Saturday with President Barack Obama and the first family, Friday, March. 6, 2015, in Selma, Ala. This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," a civil rights march in which protesters were beaten, trampled and tear-gassed by police at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

FILE - In this March 1, 1965 file photo, Registrar Carl Golson shakes a finger at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., during meeting at the courthouse in Hayneyville, Ala. King inquired about voter registration procedures but Golson told him that if he was not a prospective voter in Lowndes county, "It's none of your business." King visited two nearby countries after leading a voter registration drive in Selma. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 1965 file photo, African Americans stand in line in the rain to try to register for a voter registration test in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/File)